The DAP considers MIC president G Palanivel a ‘mega liar' - unless he can provide the list of the 807 people he claims had recently jumped ship to the Indian party in the BN.

DAP deputy secretary-general P Ramasamy said as the new MIC leader, Palanivel should not be lying like his predecessor S Samy Vellu, who had resigned from his post.

Ramasamy ( left ), who is Penang's deputy chief minister II, outrightly denied that DAP members had crossed over to MIC in droves, as claimed by Palanivel.

"We have already checked with all our branches, and the membership is pretty intact... no one seems to have left us," he told a press conference at Komtar today.

Ramasamy also noted that the DAP does not have more than 1,000 members in the whole of Penang.

"The DAP is a very selective party and does not go on wild recruitment drives," he said, adding that Palanivel should give him the names of those who jumped ship from DAP, "or else we will call you a mega liar, worse than Samy Vellu".

"If there is one thing he (Palanivel) has learnt from Samy, it is to lie," Ramasamy added.

Palanivel announced two days ago that 807 members of opposition parties have quit their parties to join MIC, with most of them from the DAP's Bagan and Batu Kawan divisions.

MIC confident of winning back seats

Palanivel, who is also deputy plantation industries and commodities minister, said this was a good sign for MIC and BN as the coalition was regaining lost support.

MIC was now confident of capturing the Bagan Dalam and Prai seats in the next general election.

Ramasamy said if 807 members had really left the DAP, the party would have to close down at least 16 branches "and that will be the end of me as Penang DCM and Batu Kawan MP".

However, he questioned why 20 buses were needed to bring in participants from Kedah and Perak to attend last Sunday's MIC event - if so many members from the DAP had joined it.

He said he was told that the 20 buses were brought in participants from the two states who were promised mutton curry, sarees and dhotis.

"So, what is MIC's motive in doing this? It failed in the Interlok issue... the party needs to be resurrected and it has to show (Prime Minister) Najib (Razak) that it is a force to be reckoned with," said Ramasamy.

"But Palanivel's ( right ) and Samy's factions are fighting each other. The MIC is in such a bad shape that it needs opium to stay awake, so it creates all sorts of allegations about disgruntled Indian members in DAP, and that I, Ramasamy, and the DAP, have failed the Indian members."

Ramasamy urged Palanivel to put aside his theatrics and reveal the members who crossed over or face being called a compulsive liar.

He went on to joke: "Where did the MIC get the magic figure of 807? They must have consulted an astrologer... they usually do so. They get the number first and then justify later how they got it."

Ramasamy also said the DAP was in the process of opening seven more branches, and that it would vet applicants before accepting them as it was only wanted those genuinely interested in politics.

If Indians were unhappy with their lot in life, he added, they could always approach the DAP instead of wasting their time with the MIC.